


cold hands, warm hearts

by autumnchills



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Firefam Feels, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Hurt/Comfort, Hypothermia, M/M, Mudslide, Near Death Experiences, QUICKSAND, Rain, Storms, Thunder and Lightning, Whump, actual quicksand not the ship from that cartoon?, or risk of it at least, suffocation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:34:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29073375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumnchills/pseuds/autumnchills
Summary: It was that cold and gloomy weather that made for a perfect lazy day where he’d make hot chocolate and do nothing but watch movies and curl up in bed… and beg Eddie to come over so they could cuddle.It had been the coziest and most relaxing “cold day” that either of them had in far too long.And they were going to need another one after Thursday finished taking its toll.—On a call to a neighborhood that’s been hit by a mudslide, Buck finds himself stuck in a precarious situation and in need of backup. Time is of the essence as multiple threats linger.
Relationships: Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Comments: 77
Kudos: 503
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	cold hands, warm hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [soft_satan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_satan/gifts).



> Just an FYI: this concept came about before the most recent episode of 911 and has no relation to the events of the first two episodes of Season 4
> 
> Special Thank You to my Beta Reader [MyShipSailsHere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyShipSailsHere/pseuds/MyShipSailsHere)! I know this one was done in a pinch for you and I hella appreciate you!
> 
> Written for [soft_satan’s](https://archiveofourown.org/users/soft_satan) birthday! Happy Birthday ya old fart <3 I really hope that this is the whump you were hoping for when you kept talking about this trope!

If there was one thing that Buck could say he liked about early December, it was the rain. As long as Buck had lived in LA, he could always count on rain to hit that first week of the month. Whether it was light and on and off for a day or heavy for a week straight, it’d come. The rain that had come during Spring had been cruel to them with the storm that nearly killed Eddie, but this last rain surge hadn’t brought in any wild wind or lightning. It was _nice_.

There was just something entirely different about the late autumn rain as opposed to early spring. It was like a chapter was closing and the world was settling in for the holidays. 

Maybe it was just Buck, but he loved the encompassing feel of the clouds, acting as a blanket for the world. It made the weather just cold enough to give him chills, but nowhere near bad enough to freeze his toes off if they spent too long on a call. When it rained, he loved to open all of the blinds on his apartment windows so that he could see the rain rivulets. If it was the right time of the day, those rivulets cast small shadows across the whole downstairs. If it was windy, Buck would be treated to the soothing sound of the drops hitting the glass. 

It was that cold and gloomy weather that made for a perfect lazy day where he’d make hot chocolate and do nothing but watch movies and curl up in bed… _and_ beg Eddie to come over so they could cuddle. Just the other morning, Buck had dragged Eddie to his place after work, insisting that Eddie spend the day keeping him warm in bed. By the time they got off that morning, Christopher had already been dropped off at school by Tía Pepa, but Eddie had been worried that he wouldn’t wake up in time to pick him up from school that afternoon.

Not only had Buck made sure that Eddie was awake with plenty of time to get to the school, but it had also been some of the best post-work rest that Eddie had gotten in a long time. Sleep like that usually only hit him once in a blue moon. Eddie had woken up to the fluff of Buck’s comforter and the tickle of the younger man’s hair under his nose where he was tucked into his chest.

Most of the warmth that came from their coziness had been zapped away when Eddie left to pick Christopher up from school, but that cold edge was soothed by the fact that Buck promised a fresh pot of Minestrone with homemade garlic bread if he came right back to the apartment with his son in tow.

It had been the coziest and most relaxing “cold day” that either of them had in far too long. 

And they were going to need another one after Thursday finished taking its toll.

The rain had not let up all day, and while there hadn’t been any reports of lightning strikes, there were warnings for flash floods up and down the county anywhere from the coast to places further inland. Gone was the rain that Buck _loved_ and in had come the rain that threatened people’s homes. Not fun.

The team responded to multiple calls back to back before they could catch a break and return to the station. 

Everyone was cold to their bones and rushed to the locker rooms to get dry clothes, or even the showers to warm up, before they received another call. Bobby had called Buck and a few others who hadn’t been soaked to help him with lunch in an attempt to get the food ready and on the table as fast as possible.

Luckily, no more calls came in for a couple of hours, and everyone was stuffed with chili and properly warmed up. Buck and Eddie had been quick to run through some standard restocking and reorganizing with the equipment on the trucks before cuddling up on the couch in the loft. They couldn’t exactly sprawl out across each other, needing to save space for others to sit, so Buck had taken the arm seat and Eddie had snatched a blanket to drape over them. He sat as close as possible to his boyfriend and tucked himself under Buck’s arm.

They were there for twenty minutes, just relaxing together as other members of their house milled about, before Eddie spoke up.

“Can we go back to Tuesday?” he asked, readjusting his position under Buck’s arm. “Tuesday was good to us.”

“Tuesday was nice,” Buck hummed in response.

“Ooo,” Hen cooed as she slid onto the other end of the couch. “What was Tuesday?”

Eddie lifted his head from where it was tucked below Buck’s chin and smiled at her before responding. “We spent the entire day in bed.”

The group heard Chimney groan, from the table behind them and make a comment about explicit conversations at work, but Buck and Eddie only laughed in response.

“We don’t mean like that,” Eddie admonished. “It was right after work so we slept and it was amazing. Everything was just… _right_.” Eddie smiled and pressed his face back into Buck’s chest. Hen grew soft at the sight, especially when Buck leaned down to press a kiss to his head.

No one would guess they were in a relationship by just listening to them together. Eddie and Buck were more likely to bicker than speak affectionately to each other, but as Hen had learned, it’s because they’d always been more tactile.

Before they were dating, Eddie had graced Buck with countless arm squeezes, foot nudges, and that crisscrossed wrist bump they always did before a rope rescue. And, even though they weren’t big on PDA like kissing and holding hands when there were more than a few sets of roaming eyes, their touches increased tenfold since they started dating.

Hen figured that they didn’t mind because she was the only one who was looking at them. The other two firefighters in the room were on the floor in front of the TV, focused on a game, and Chim couldn’t really see them from his position.

“And then he left to pick up Christopher and came right the hell back just to cuddle up to me,” Buck added, a smug smirk on his face.

Chimney muttered a small, “Yeah, sure,” under his breath, but the two men could tell he was only teasing to give them a hard time.

Hen smiled at them and talked about her own day. “I love waking up to rain during the day,” she gushed. “Karen was home and I woke up to rain smacking the window in that super soothing kind of way— you know what I mean?”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Buck said.

“And Karen had just made an after school snack for Denny so I got some of that,” she continued on. “Fresh macaroni and cheese never tasted so good.” Hen closed her eyes and took a heavy breath as if she smelled it right there and then. 

Eddie made a noise. “Was it boxed mac and cheese?” he asked. “I don’t understand how kids are obsessed with that crap.”

Hen’s eyes opened and she shook her head. “Karen makes an amazing homemade macaroni and cheese with a creamy sauce that has—”

The alarms cut through her sentence, and Buck and Eddie threw the blanket off of them in beat with Hen’s groan.

Everyone empathized. The day’s rain was the heaviest and the wind was the strongest that it’d been that week. Enjoying this weather was only nice when they weren’t forced to work in it. Some gusts of wind on an earlier call had rain shooting at their faces from the side, completely bypassing what protection their helmets could offer them. It wasn’t too hard to deal with, but it could obstruct vision if they weren’t too careful.

“Think it’s a flash flood?” Eddie called out as they threw on their gear.

“Not quite,” Bobby responded back from nearby. “We’re on search, rescue, and evacuation!” He shouted next, this time to the station as a whole. “Paramedics in the trucks! Carry kits on you! We’ll split off into different groups after we report to the incident commander! Different stations will be deploying more medical and ambulances!”

The directions raised some eyebrows as they loaded into the trucks, and soon enough, they were venturing into the torrential downpour, bracing for whatever this next emergency could be.

* * *

A mudslide.

It wasn’t what any of them expected, but luckily it wasn’t affecting too large of an area. A decent amount of small earthquakes had rocked Los Angeles in the summer, and some hills behind a neighborhood just outside of the inner city area had been broken up and crumbling ever since. Apparently, the rain was all it needed to finally weigh down and collapse a good section of it. Mud slid into a few residences and there were a few reported injuries, but nothing too severe. The focus was on getting people out of the neighborhood in case other sections decided to come down.

Thick clouds had made it appear darker once the late afternoon had passed, but by the time they pulled up to the scene, the sun was already setting, making the sky even darker. Countless helmet lights were on, spread across the firefighters on the streets. The 118 followed suit by turning theirs on when they filed out of the trucks, and orders flew left and right.

Everyone was quickly divided into groups. Unfortunately, Eddie and Chim had been split off from Hen and Buck, sent off to assist with minor injuries at a house just a few down from where they parked. Hen and Buck were directed toward a different area of the disaster with the orders to assist another paramedic with medical response. It seemed to be right at the heart of the chaos, as well. The mudflow had come at the large house from an angle, covering most of the backyard, part of a small building in the back, and flowing right into the kitchen at the back end of the house.

It was in the room next to the kitchen that they found their patient. Hen and the other paramedic immediately crouched down and helped them while Buck stood by for assistance when needed. The patient was an older teen girl, and while listening to her rambling, they were able to gather what had happened. 

The girl, Chloe, had been in the backyard checking on her dog when the hill came down. Her dog managed to outrun her into the house, but she tripped and landed half buried as the mud came for her and pushed her into her own house. In the tumble of it all, she’d ended up with a compound break in her tibia. She’d gotten herself out of the mud but called 9-1-1 upon realizing her injury and being unable to move herself any further.

“Oh, God,” Chloe moaned as they helped stabilize her leg to move out. “My mom’s going to freak out when she tries to call. My phone died while I was still on with the 9-1-1 operator.”

“You’ll be able to call her as soon as we get you to the hospital, sweetie,” Hen comforted her. 

“Is there anyone else home?” the other paramedic, Russel, asked. “We’re evacuating the area, and we need to get everyone out.”

“Just as a precaution,” Buck quickly added when the girl’s face turned from frustration to fear. “They’ll be able to ride with you to the hospital.”

“Just my brother, Eli,” she said tearfully. “He should be in his room. I think he was asleep, but if he’s heard anything he might be hiding in the closet— he does that when he’s scared. He’s only five. My dog is here, too, though.”

“Okay, we'll radio an officer and ask them to give your brother and dog a ride somewhere,” Russel assured her. “Do you have any family or friends outside the neighborhood that he can stay with?”

“Buck,” Hen said to him as the teen answered Russel. 

“On it,” he said and moved to search the house. 

A quick sweep of the first floor showed that there was only one bedroom downstairs, but it was a mostly barren guest room without any closets, so Buck rushed toward the stairs in search of the kid’s room.

Up the stairs and immediately to the right were double doors. Figuring that it was the master bedroom, Buck bypassed them and went down the hall. One door in the middle of the hall led to an office that held nothing but a fancy desk, chair, and bookshelf, and at the end, there were three more. Buck didn’t need to guess which room was the brother’s as he approached them. Through the door that faced the hall, Buck could see blue walls and the glow of a smaller light coming from in the room, which indicated that someone must be there.

Or not.

When Buck stepped inside, the blankets were rustled as if someone had been lying there, but there was no boy in sight.

 _The closet_ , he remembered a second later. Buck turned to the door and opened it, only to be greeted by clothes and nothing else. He rounded back and checked under the bed to be sure and still didn’t find anyone.

“Eli!” He shouted.

There was no response.

“Hen,” he radioed down to her. “The brother’s not up here,” he said. “Does she have any idea where else he might be?”

Buck had already started moving out of the room as he asked, but a more direct location could cut down on time. With the way the rain pelted against the house and across the area, they weren’t sure how much time they had left before the roads were flooded with water or mud.

“She’s not sure,” Hen reported back.

“Copy that,” he said. “I’m checking other rooms.”

Buck moved to the bathroom next, immediately to the right of the boy’s room, and pulled back the shower curtains on the off chance that he might have hidden in the tub. With no luck there, he moved to what appeared to be the girl’s room next, directly across from the bathroom and to the left of the brother’s. The room’s light was off, but he checked under the bed and in the closet but came up empty.

With only the master bedroom left to check, he dashed out and back the way he came.

“Buck,” Hen called over the radio, “she’s ready to move out, but she’s refusing to leave until we find her brother.”

“I’m looking,” he panted out as he pushed open the door to the room. “I’m checking the master right now.”

“Hurry,” she said, and Buck knew she wasn’t being rude, but there was only so fast he could go if he had to search every room in the house for the boy.

A search of the room came up with the same results and Buck cursed as he looked around the room. Where was he?

A sharp flash of light from the corner of his eye caught his attention, and Buck snapped his head to the large window that had a view of the backyard, just in time to catch the lighting. 

Buck counted in his head.

_One, two—_

Light’s went out, and all noise in the house ceased as booming thunder rolled through. The walls vibrated with the intensity of it, and Buck had to press his hand to the wall to be sure it wasn’t actually an earthquake.

Once the thunder passed, he spoke into his radio again. “He’s not here,” Buck rushed out, looking between the empty room and the backyard. “Is there anywhere—”

Buck cut himself off as he glanced outside. There was a small building in the back. It looked like some sort of glorified shed or a small guest house. The lights there were out, and at least a foot of mud blocked the door, but the building looked intact.

“Hen, there’s a small building out in the back. Is there any chance that he’s back there?”

Buck left the room and made his way down the stairs again as Hen responded.

“Small guest house,” she supplied. “She’s not sure why he’d be back there, but it’s worth checking out.”

If Buck recalled correctly, the back doors had been connected to the kitchen, which was the room next to the one they found her in. He ran up to them as he turned the light on his turnout gear on. The sun was long gone, and the looming clouds blocked out any source of light from the moon, stars, or even city glow. With the power out, the two lights on their persons were all they had.

“Anyone got a pole? There’s a good foot of mud out there. I might need to sift through some to unblock the door.” Hen nodded and unstrapped one of the pike poles from a gear pack she had with her.

“We’re moving out now,” Hen said as she passed it over. “We can’t wait any longer. Russel is taking her and I’m grabbing their dog and getting an officer ready for the kid.”

Buck spared a glance at Chloe and then looked back to Hen.

“I’ll be as quick as possible,” Buck assured as he took the pole, and immediately made way to the kitchen. He idly wondered where the dog even was because he hadn’t seen it, but he had no time to dwell.

Mud covered most of the tile in the kitchen, and the first step he took into it proved to be somewhat slippery until his weight had pressed in hard enough to leave a mark. The next time he took a step, he moved slower and used the pole to test the surface. 

“Buckley, Wilson,” crackled through his radio as Buck stepped out back into the rain. “What’s your status?”

Buck trusted Hen to respond for them both as he made his way across the large backyard. The mud left the surface uneven— thinner near the house and deeper further into the backyard. Random clumps of harder spots with rocks and softer ones that made his feet sink had him taking uneven steps. A few inches wasn’t much, but it was slippery and Buck found himself having to use the pike pole to test spots and make sure they were safe enough for walking on.

“Just about to move out with Russel and our patient. Buck’s searching for her younger brother in a building in the backyard.”

Buck only had a moment to wonder about the dog again when his pole splashed in the next place he pressed it instead of smacking against more mud.

Buck lifted the stick and lowered it again. It only went a couple of inches into the murky water before coming to a stop at more mud below.

A puddle, Buck figured.

Buck dragged his feet forward and veered to the right of the puddle. 

The wind picked up then, carrying the rain with it, and water that had been lightly sprinkling his face now sprayed at it from what felt like a completely horizontal angle. It wasn’t as heavy as it’d been earlier in the day, but it obscured his vision all the same. 

He pushed forward another couple of steps before a cracking sound echoed through the sound of the downpour. 

Buck did a cursory look around the backyard and Buck saw the way that a few palm trees along the edge of the mess swayed, threatening to come down with a strong enough gust. They were at least thirty feet tall, and Buck didn’t want to guess the kind of damage they would cause. Wind around here didn’t always reach high enough speeds for trees to topple, but the loose earth all around made it a possibility.

“Doing alright there, Buck?” Hen called through.

Buck grunted in response. “This is my leg workout for the week,” he replied as he pressed forward, an arm raised in an attempt to block the rain. “This shit is—”

A cracking sound tore his attention away from her, and he looked to the source of the noise.

The universe must have hated him because he only had a second to process that the tree was no longer swaying but actually falling, and it was headed right toward him.

Buck picked up the pace and darted forward, ignoring Hen’s call of concern. He barely made it out of the path of the tree when the mud beneath his foot gave out.

Instead of coming in contact with another patch of mud, his right foot splashed through a puddle, and rather than stopping at the bottom, his whole foot up to his ankle sunk right into the mud below it, and he found his body lurching forward with a curse flying off of his tongue and more thrown off than any of the bumps had left him. He tried to catch himself with his left foot, but he was already falling, and it slid behind him, propelling him toward the ground even faster. He only had a second to remember to throw his hands out to catch his fall.

Distantly, he heard Bobby yell his name, but his body crashed into the slush of a surface in sync with the tree crashing down where he’d been standing, and the end of it tore through the balcony on the top floor of the house. 

The thin metal railings bent and the glass panels shattered, creating a cacophony that had Buck flinching and ducking his head down. He wasn’t anywhere near the falling debris, but he didn’t want to take chances.

He paused for a moment as the sound ceased to assess himself. Fortunately, the impact hadn’t been hard, but it was enough to knock the wind out of him. His hands had sunk into the mud in front of him, immediately flooding the gloves he wore with water, and his forearms rested mostly above the surface. His right leg was folded under him with the foot still lodged in the spot, and his left leg was splayed behind him in the water puddle. 

“Buck!” Hen called again, but this time her voice came through garbled. Water or mud, or maybe even both, must have gotten into the speaker of his radio. Buck yanked his hands out of the mud and leaned on his elbows to wipe off the excess from his gloves, but there was nothing he could do about the water that’d seeped through the open ends of his turnout gear. 

He groaned as he pushed up onto his knees, barely noticing that they both sunk in just a little further

“Bu—!”

“Here,” Buck finally responded, cutting her off. “A tree came down and I had to take a little leap of faith.”

Multiple voices shouted over the radio, all various forms of the same question.

“Guys, guys,” he placated. “I fell. Small spill. No biggy.”

“You scared us,” Eddie’s voice came in next. “Chim and I are heading back toward you guys, Cap.”

“Copy that,” Bobby replied. “You didn’t hurt yourself did you, Buck?”

“No,” Buck responded honestly. “Just had to catch my breath. I admit, it was kind of close.” 

Buck let out a puff of air and glanced around, trying to find the pike pole, and his light caught the edge of the handle a few feet away. He would have preferred trying to stand with the support of the pole, but there was no time to mourn or be lazy.

With one swift movement, he dragged his left foot forward through the mud and water and tried to push up to stand.

What startled him was the fact that instead of his body moving up, his foot sunk down deep.

_What the fuck?_

Buck looked at his surroundings. He was definitely in the thick of it, but it was only about a foot high near the edge of the back building and five inches, give or take, inside the kitchen. The deepest of it would have been at the far back where the mud inclined. It just wasn’t adding up. The mud here was up to his _knee_.

Buck looked down and tried to lift his leg rather than push down this time, only for a squelching sound to echo past the rain as his right knee dug further into the ground. His left foot stayed locked in place by the pressure of the mud.

_Double what the fuck._

Buck glanced around again, looking for any sign as to why this area of the mud was deeper. When his eyes caught a pool skimmer on the side of the back building, dread filled Buck’s stomach.

A pool. There was a pool here where all the mud had soaked into. It’d probably saved the worst of it from hitting the house, but it left him in a pickle.

“Crap.”

Buck tried to lift his right leg next, but he’d failed to realize that it wasn’t only water that covered his calf. His knee had been pressed into the mud and with his leg still folded beneath him, it had started to sink, too.

Buck pulled his hands out of the mud before they sunk too low for him to pull out and scrambled for his radio again. He didn’t realize he was cutting someone off from speaking until words were spilling from his mouth.

“Cap, I think I just found myself in a nasty situation,” he rushed out. He tried again to pull either of his legs up, but only managed to shift the mud around him. He stopped, not wanting to get himself stuck any worse than he was.

“Talk to me, Buck,” Bobby immediately responded.

“I’m stuck in the mud I fell in,” he said. Buck removed his helmet and tossed it to the side. The light remained lit and shined a small beam at the ground in front of him. It didn’t help him see anything any better. If anything, it just allowed for the rain to cascade down his face. For a second, it felt almost nice, but the cold would kick in the second he removed his turnout coat. He moved the radio to his suspenders next so he could do just that.

“Can’t you dig yourself out?” Chim came through next.

“No,” Buck ground out. “Hen, do you remember all that mud in the back— it looked about a foot deep at most?”

The rain smacked his arms in small pellets once he got the coat off and made his teeth chatter at the sudden temperature drop. He’d be soaked in seconds, but not sinking was a more pressing issue, and he needed to lose any extra weight.

“I didn’t see much of it,” she responded as he tossed his coat in the direction of his helmet. “But, yeah, a foot sounds about right, give or take a few inches.”

“Well, I’m having the strange feeling that there was a pool underneath all of that.”

“Pool of…?” Chim drifted off confused.

“Water,” Buck snapped, trying to sit back and see if he could disperse his weight. He’d seen something about this once on TV— something on National Geographic, likely— and it was supposed to help him slowly pull his legs out. “There’s a _swimming pool_ beneath this mud mound.” 

Leaning back failed to help, though. Buck only added more pressure to the leg that was bent below him and felt his back start to press into the surrounding mud.

 _Okay,_ he thought and lurched up. _That didn’t work._

“What does that mean for you, Buck?” Eddie asked. 

Buck ignored the question and reached forward to start scooping away as much dirt as possible and look for something to grab onto. It was likely that he was near the edge of the pool, and if he could find the ledge, he could latch onto it to avoid sinking.

“If I’m understanding what Buck is saying,” Hen said, sounding out of breath now, “quicksand. And a whole vat of it.”

Buck cursed again as the mud reached his upper thigh on his left leg. All of his movement seemed to make it worse, so he stopped and let the sinking come to a slow. The pressure around his foot was already increasing at an uncomfortable rate.

“And I’m going down quick,” he said. 

“Did you try dispers—”

“—Dispersing my weight? Yeah, I did. Didn’t work,” Buck said, already exasperated. “I just started to sink further.”

“Dammit,” Hen cursed. “Bobby, we need a truck in front of that house, now, and we need to run a firehose straight to the back!” Hen yelled through the radio. 

“A hose?” Eddie asked. He sounded out of breath, too, that time. Buck hoped it meant they were all running to his aid because _mud_ was not allowed to be how he went out. 

“No time for questions! Bring a couple of backboards and rope, too,” she said. “Buck, don’t you go wiggling that booty of yours a _single_ inch! You’ll make yourself sink faster.”

Buck nodded, remembered she couldn’t see him, and then gave a weak, “Yeah,” into the radio. “Learned that.”

“Look, you can’t really sink with quicksand, right?” Eddie asked. “The mud is denser than Buck, so if he doesn’t move he should stop around his chest, right?”

“Technically, yeah,” Hen conceded. “That’s the case with natural forming quicksand. But the way Buck described the mud has me worried. He _should_ be able to lean back to disperse his weight, but if the mud is liquified, at least in that top layer, I’m not certain he’ll stay above the surface.”

“Jesus,” Eddie muttered. “Buck, did your sinking slow when you stopped moving?”

“Yeah,” Buck confirmed. “I mean I feel like I’m still sinking, but it’s slow. It’s not like when I was moving to try and get out. It’s definitely looser on top and thicker below. No way I’m getting out of this alone.”

“Can you try taking steps back?” Chim asked. “Didn’t we learn that you could try to backtrack out of quicksand if you move slowly enough?”

“It’s wet all around,” Buck answered with a shake of his head. “Not to mention, I didn’t just step into this. I practically dove into it to avoid a falling tree. I tried to step and just sunk into it even more. And I can’t even move my right leg.”

“What’s wrong with your leg?” Bobby questioned. “You said you weren’t injured.”

“I’m not,” Buck assured him. “It got stuck in a folded position under me.”

“Look, we still gotta put a step on this,” Hen added after a beat. “Even if you can’t go under the surface and even if it’s slow going, you’re sinking. We’re still looking at deep vein thrombosis if your legs are under that pressure for too long, and if you get to your stomach, we’re looking at decreased breathing aka lack of oxygen. Unless we want to see our Buckaroo suffocate to death, then we need to _move_.”

A whole new cold washed over Buck. “Suffocate?” Buck squeaked out. He’d had a blood clot before— somehow the threat of another didn’t scare him— but the idea of suffocating in the open air seemed a bit more terrifying.

Buck made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob. He was thankful no one was around to hear it

“Fantastic,” he muttered to himself. 

“We’ll need a couple of other men,” Hen went on, ignoring Buck. “We still gotta see if that kid Eli is in that guest house.”

For a moment, Buck felt shame run through him. He’d already forgotten about the kid with his own predicament. It wasn’t like he could do anything, but he was still on the job, even if his dumbass was in danger. 

Chim spoke then. “Are you think—”

Lightning struck, cutting him off and filling the night sky with bright white light. For a millisecond, Buck could see everything.

Every falling raindrop glowed, and ripples in the clouds cast shadows across the sky. It was both beautiful and daunting, and Buck could only marvel at it for that sliver of a moment.

The light disappeared just as fast as it had come, and Buck didn’t even think to count before the sound reached him. He couldn’t even call it thunder. That time, he could hear the sharp crack of it, breaking through the air and igniting the sky with electricity. He felt it in every inch of his body. The combination of his chills and the piercing echo of the strike had him feeling like he’d crumble to pieces, starting from his chest where anxiety had dug itself a home.

The silence that followed was deafening, and with how bright everything had been, the dark only seemed even darker.

Wind still roared in his ears and rain smacked unforgivingly against him and the mud, but at that moment, Buck felt suspended in the middle of an unforgiving and lonely emptiness.

“Any updates, g-guys?” he asked into his radio, teeth chattering harshly.

Multiple people came through the radio, one after the other.

“Bringing the truck around!”

“I’ve got one backboard. Can’t manage a spare!”

“One will do!”

“Hen, are you going to do the thing you did with the branch and the lady in the mud?”

The last question was Chim, and Buck had no idea what he could mean.

“I’m going to try,” she responded. “Don’t know if it’ll work when it’s that deep.”

“How are you doing, Buck?” Bobby’s authoritative voice took over the channel.

“C-c-cold. Haven’t sunk m-much more,” he supplied. 

“You sound more than cold there.”

“I’m up t-to my knees in mud, got a layer of water a couple of inches deep on top of that, and I ditched my coat to lose weight. Pardon my French, but I’m fucking freezing, Cap.”

Bobby let out a huff of nervous laughter. “We’ll get to ya, kid.”

“And how’s the circulation?” Hen asked after.

“Uh,” Buck hesitated. “W-what do you mean?”

“The pressure, Buck. Can you feel your legs? Wiggle your toes?”

“I c-can still feel my legs. I can’t even wiggle them in my b-boots, though. I feel like I stepped into fast-drying cement or something.”

“Keep us updated,” Bobby said.

“Copy that, Cap.”

The radio fell silent after that, and in the distance, Buck could hear the fire trucks. Their sirens sounded so far away with Mother Nature wreaking havoc all around, but he knew they were just on the street in front of the house, getting into a better position.

“Buck!” Buck’s head shot up at the sound of his boyfriend’s voice. It was a lot closer than anything else he could hear and not coming through the radio.

He twisted his neck to look at the kitchen, but he could hardly see anything past the large tree trunk.

“Eddie!” he yelled. “Watch your step, okay? If you can still see my footprints, those should be safe!”

“Copy that, Buck!”

The sound of Eddie’s voice eased some of the anxiety, but he knew he wasn’t out of the woods.

“Hey,” Chim called over the radio. “Any chance we know how deep this pool is? Maybe Buck is in the shallow end,” he said hopefully.

“Maybe,” Buck said, thinking about it practically. He took a look at the distance between himself and the building as well as himself and the backyard’s fences. The odds were not in his favor.

“If we assume I got s-stuck near the edge, I could be in the sh-shallow end, but c-considering the distance I made before sinking, I’m guessing this p-pool is parallel to the house. I could very well be stuck in the shallow _or_ d-deep end.”

“Fuck,” Chim said. “And even if you’re somewhere in the middle, the mud can still reach your chest.”

Buck breathed in heavily, trying to calm his heartbeat. 

“Can y-you guys just hurry up and stop t-talking about me s-sinking?” Buck bit out with rain flying off of his lips like spit. He hadn’t meant to be so harsh, but the situation was a bit dire and he didn’t want to think about the mud suffocating him.

“Where’s the mud now, Buck?” Bobby asked before Chim could respond.

Buck closed his eyes and threw his head up to the sky in frustration. He used to love the rain, even with the lightning and thunder and wind. Right then, it was unrelenting, so damn cold, and was part of the reason he could _die_.

“Buck?” Bobby questioned when he didn’t respond.

“He’s fine,” Eddie answered for him. “I think he just needs a breather, guys. Jones, Sanchez, and I are setting up a safe walking perimeter. There isn’t much we’ll be able to do about the tree right now, but I think we can get to Buck fine.”

Buck groaned and grabbed his radio again. “Mud is t-to my hips,” he said, tonelessly. He had to take a couple more calming breaths before he could say anything else. “The pressure on my legs is…” Buck’s head bobbed left and right as if trying to decide on a word, “intense.”

Despite the pressure creating discomfort that muscle memory dictated he fix by moving, Buck hadn’t dared to tug. 

“You’re gonna be just fine, kid,” Bobby responded.

Buck could only laugh humorlessly. “I’m k-kind of freaking out,” he admitted, voice cracking on the end of his words. 

“Keep your head and arms up, Buck,” Hen said. “We’re right out front and we’re coming.”

“Chim,” Bobby spoke again, “he’s stuttering a lot. Are we looking at risk of hypothermia?”

“Risk? Yes? But unless Buck is exhibiting other symptoms, we’ve got time,” he explained. “Buck, are you experiencing any other symptoms?”

“Shivering. I-I don’t know if I would c-call this slurred speech.”

“Not slurred,” Chim decided. “Slurred speech is a representation of his level of consciousness or brain function. The shivering is causing his teeth to chatter.”

“Alright then. Everyone, keep in touch.”

It was the last thing he heard through the radio for the moment.

Buck went silent, too, listening to everyone work around him. From just feet away, he could hear Eddie and a couple of others finishing with testing the ground and marking a perimeter, having pressed bright yellow flag markers into the mud. One man was from a different station, working the route that Buck had been before he was stuck, expertly pressing the pike pole into multiple points as fast as possible.

“You’re Buckley, right?” the man called out as he passed by Buck. “From the 118?” The man hadn’t turned to look at him, but he was likely briefed before coming back here.

“Yeah,” Buck confirmed.

“McGrath,” he offered as an introduction. “My team calls me Mick, though. No one likes my first name and the last is a mouthful for some.”

“I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but…” Buck trailed off. The situation was less than ideal and he really wished he wasn’t there.

Mick let off a guffaw of a laugh. “Fair kid, fair.”

There was a beat of silence before he spoke again, but lightning struck, cutting him off. It was further out this time, but Mick had to wait for the thunder to make its way past before he could speak again.

“That lightning can be so rude! Can’t hear shit!” 

Buck laughed in response.

“Anyway, our captain is a big fan of yours,” he finally shouted. “I’m pretty sure the whole LAFD is, kid.”

If Buck hadn’t been freezing his ass off, he probably would have blushed. 

“Your point?” He couldn’t help but ask. 

“You survived a freaking ladder truck explosion and a tsunami.” In front of him, the man still hadn’t so much as looked at Buck, but he didn’t blame him. Buck knew that there were two jobs to be done and he was only equipped to handle helping Eli right now. He made it to the building and began scraping away some of the mud by the entrance. 

“Point is,” Mick went on, “this is far from the worst you’ve dealt with. I know you’re freaking—” He paused to grunt as he heaved a rock that had been lodged in the mud away from the door. “—you’re freaking out. Any of us would. You’re surrounded by your own, though, and no one’s about to let you sink. I mean, if sinking is even possible. The density—”

“I survived by pure chance,” Buck rebutted. 

“You’re telling me that you didn’t use an ounce of your brain or skill to survive a tsunami? Wait ‘till I tell my captain you said that. You’ll get a dinner invite to the station and an invite to the station itself. He’ll talk some sense into you. Cap’s been trying to fill a spot for a couple of months. He’d kill to take you under his wing.”

The thought flattered him, but he couldn’t form a response. He’d never leave the 118, but it also baffled him to think that anyone could want him at their firehouse that bad. If anything, he thought the lawsuit had tarnished his reputation amongst other LAFD members.

“I’m nothing special,” Buck couldn’t help but return, muttered just under his breath.

“Everything about you is special,” Eddie said, crouching a few feet away from Buck on solid ground. “Are you doing okay?” He made a move like he wanted to step forward, but caught himself before he could. Buck turned toward him and flinched at the light pointed right at his face.

“Sorry,” Eddie murmured and tilted it away. 

“Doing okay,” he said. “I expect another Tuesday after this.”

“Tuesday?” Eddie asked in fake shock. “Pfft! I’m going to give you a whole Friday, cariño.” He smiled softly. “For lunch, I’ll go get burritos from that place you really like—”

“El Tepeyac?” Buck asked hopefully.

“You know it,” Eddie smirked and held out a hand. 

Buck reached out and latched on. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be in Eddie’s warm embrace. It didn’t matter that he was still stuck in the mud. If he could just have Eddie’s arms around him, he knew he would feel better… and a lot less cold.

“Cap,” Eddie said, his voice taking on a concerned tone. “He’s trembling. This isn’t just some shivering.”

Buck scrunched his eyebrows and looked to his extended arm. He couldn’t even see it, but now that Eddie had mentioned it, he couldn’t _not_ feel it.

“Is it possible for your bones to vibrate?” he asked. “I feel like that’s what’s happening.”

He didn’t wait for Eddie to respond before looking down at the mud. If Bobby said anything to Eddie, he didn’t catch it. The mud had reached his waist. He didn’t realize how much more he’d sunk while he was waiting, and the pressure on his right leg was causing a pain that compared to what he’d felt during physical therapy after the truck.

“Buck?” Eddie called when he hadn’t looked back up.

Buck only hummed in response, unable to tear his gaze away from the death trap.

Mud and water. Who would’ve thought such harmless things could be so troublesome?

He’d always known that quicksand was real and could form anywhere under the right conditions, but to actually experience it was another thing entirely. And it wasn’t fast like the tsunami, crashing and breaking through everything in its path. The mud was slowly consuming him whole. 

Inch by inch he sunk lower and he only wished that the team could just pull him out, but he knew it wasn’t that simple.

“Hey, hey, Buck,” Eddie called his attention again and squeezed his hand. “The cavalry has arrived.”

Buck looked as far back as he could and found Chim, Hen, and Bobby running in. Other station members followed not far behind. As the three of them approached, the handful of others split off. A couple bypassed him to help Mick, shovels in their hands and shouts flying out of their mouths, and some walked toward him to stand behind his friends.

“Hey, guys,” he grimaced, squinting up at them through the rain. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Hey there, Buckaroo,” Chim said and shifted on his feet behind Eddie. “You ready to get out of there?”

Buck could only blink, unimpressed. “I know that’s a rhetorical question, but I swear to G—”

A twinge in his leg cut him off and there was nothing he could do but gasp and then groan as the pain rolled through, sharp and like it could tear him in half. Still holding Eddie’s hand, he squeezed it tight. The pain only increased and Buck found his leg jerking involuntarily.

“Buck, what’s going on?” Bobby asked.

“Cramp,” he managed through gritted teeth. 

“Buck,” Hen said wearily. “You gotta try to hold st—”

“I _am_ trying,” he grunted. Buck knew that he had to stay still, but he couldn’t. His leg was begging to be stretched.

Another curl of his muscle elicited tears and there was nothing Buck could do but scream as his struggles shifted him lower into the mud.

“Buck!” Eddie shouted.

“Crap, get the backboard now, give him some kind of lever— Eddie, you gotta let go so we can move in.”

“Work around me,” Eddie snapped back. “I’m not letting go.”

“He’s freaking out and he’s going to hyperventilate. Any lower and he’ll start to suffocate, too!” Hen yelled back. “It’ll only get worse. Move before I move you, Diaz!”

“Eddie,” Buck gasped and shook his head. “It’s okay—”

Eddie’s head turned to him. “It’s not,” he insisted. 

“Backboard coming in,” someone shouted from behind the group. 

Chim spoke up next. “Get the damn—” He cut himself off as he spotted two more men coming around the building with the hose. “Took you guys long enough!”

Buck squeezed Eddie’s hand one more time before Eddie let go and someone else took his place. He hadn’t realized how tired his arms were until they were rested on the backboard that had been laid flat across the mud. The thing wouldn’t hold him up, but it was a nice reprieve.

“I think it’s—” Buck grunted at the pressure around his ribs. He’d been crushed beneath a ladder truck and still never experienced a feeling as suffocating as this one. “Think it’s s-safe to say I’m not in the shallow end, Chim.”

Chim laughed as the guys climbed over the tree with the hose and one unwound some rope. “You’re giving me grey hairs, Buckaroo,” he said. “Not fair. You have to let me keep some color for my kid’s first month, at least.”

Buck couldn’t laugh, but he let out small pants of air with a smile on his face.

“Did they—” Buck gasped. “Did they get the kid?”

“McGrath’s got him,” Bobby confirmed. He turned and waved a hand over his shoulder, and Buck suspected that the firefighter was walking past. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t even noticed the firefighters finally getting the door open.

“Alright, this isn’t going to be easy with only one backboard,” Bobby called out. “It means we gotta help you from here.” Buck knew that if it were up to Bobby, he would have had some plywood thrown down and they’d be surrounding him to work all sides. With where Buck fell, there were only two spots for all of them to assist, and that was immediately in front of him or two feet away at his side. 

“Buck, you hold on as tight as possible to that backboard. Eddie’s going to try to get a rope secured under your arms—”

“Tug of war with a vat of mud,” Buck hummed in thought.

“Chim, Sanchez,” Bobby continued, turning to the men and undeterred by Buck’s comment, “I need you to start digging the mud away from Buck.”

Buck’s heart lurched in his chest. “Won’t that make me—”

“That’s what the rope is for,” Hen said. “I’m about to blast water into there and hope it liquifies the mud enough that we can pull you out. When I say so, I want you kicking those feet like you’re a dang baby in a belly. You might feel yourself sliding down, but hold on to the backboard and we’ll lift you when the mud is loose.”

“O-oh okay,” Buck responded, unsure.

“Now listen to my commands,” Bobby said. “We want to time this right. Eddie, where’s that—”

“Right here, Cap.” Eddie pushed forward again and kneeled as close as he could to Buck, slipping the rope around his body.

“H-hey,” Buck called quietly, lips trembling. At that point, he didn’t know if it was the cold or fear that caused the shaking.

“We got you,” Eddie said reassuringly. He turned to Bobby. “He’s secure.”

“Okay, team. Start digging.”

Things happened very fast then.

His fellow firefighters were quick but efficient as they shoveled mud away from his sides. Hen moved in after only half a minute with zero hesitation when she stuck the end of the hose straight into the gap that Sanchez had created on his right side. 

She looked Buck in the eye. “When you feel the water hit your legs, kick. Loosen it up as much as you can.”

Buck nodded and braced himself. 

Hen pulled the lever, and despite the warning, Buck wasn’t prepared for the water to overflow from the spot she shot at and seep into the space around his chest. The cold stream chilled him impossibly more, and Buck gasped.

“Shift the backboard!” Hen shouted over the sound of the hose. “We need to get at your front side!”

It took Buck a moment for him to realize that she was talking to him, and it took Jones backing away from his side to kick into gear.

Buck slowly dragged his only support to his left, and a shovel took its place, scraping mud back and away from his chest but still careful not to hit him. Almost immediately, Buck could feel the difference, and his lungs expanded with all the air he hadn’t realized he wasn’t getting. It was almost dizzying and Buck clutched onto the backboard a little harder.

“Okay, less _out_ , Sanchez.” Bobby dictated from above where he watched over everything. “Go deeper, she’ll need to—”

Water flowed near Buck’s waist, and he felt a pull like the mud would bring him down.

“I’m sinking again!” he yelled.

Eddie tugged on the rope around him, and the sinking feeling stopped, but the pressure on his legs felt like a vacuum. 

“Hen!” he shouted in warning. She nodded and pushed the nozzle further in. The water was flowing around his upper body, but she needed to get it lower.

“Pike pole!” She demanded, sticking one hand back.

Chim pressed one into her hand and she guided it toward the nozzle, trying to push it where she couldn’t reach. A second later, she shook her head and passed it back.

“Buck,” she said. “You’re going to need to stick your hand in and guide it. We can’t reach like this.”

“Y-you mean to put more of my body under the mud?” he challenged. “I won’t sink?”

“You might, but depending on how deep this pool is, you should only go up to your chest again.”

Buck looked hesitant, but he trusted his team. He spared a glance at Eddie before sweeping his arm to the nozzle and pressing it further into the gap.

The change was instant, and Buck pulled his hand back out, leaving the hose behind in the mud. Eddie kept the rope secure, so it was Bobby who latched on when he shot his hand forward.

“Okay, Buck,” Bobby said nodding. “You tell us when to start pulling.”

Buck let out heaving breaths as he worked first to get his right leg moving. It’d been in the forced position for too long.

Luckily, the mud around it had softened, and Buck found himself, slowly but surely, able to stretch out his leg. Moving seemed to do the trick because as he pressed his right leg into the mud, the mud around his left shifted. 

“Guys, I—”

Yet another lightning strike cut him off, but this time, it hit too close. Buck couldn’t see it, but he could see the way everything lit up in a flash. He could practically feel the heat of it. It cracked through the air as if God himself touched down and unsheathed a giant sword just to strike the Earth, and even with how fast it was gone, everyone went crashing to the ground.

It felt like everything moved in slow motion, and Buck watched as his team all ducked or fell— everyone except Bobby and Eddie, who were Buck’s only support— and threw their arms over their heads to protect themselves from something he couldn’t see. He followed suit, not wanting to take any risk.

The answer to his unasked question came a beat later as tree bark and palm leaves rained down across the yard. Most of the wind blew it past them and at the house, but they still waited until they no longer heard it before lifting their heads.

A bright orange glow filled the night, and Buck turned to the source. What he found was the last palm tree, and Buck didn’t have any idea how it was still standing. The lightning must have struck it because the trunk looked burned out, and the majority of it was on fire. Pieces of the trunk were hanging out, splintered away, and whole chunks were missing. It was what must have gone flying with the force of the strike.

Distantly, Buck felt his legs shifting, and he remembered the situation at hand. Just as he opened his mouth to comment on the renewed sinking, Bobby readjusted his grip and Eddie gave a small tug.

Buck turned to them, and he must have looked surprised that they were still holding on at all. Around the pinched eyebrows of concentration, Eddie let out a puff of air and a smile that looked half like a grimace spread across his face.

“It’s going to have to actually hit me for me to ever let go of you, Buck.”

Buck couldn’t even form a response. He just blinked owlishly up at the man he loved. 

“Pull,” he said weakly, and when he realized it was too quiet for either of them to understand, he squeezed Bobby’s hand and yelled it louder. “Pull!”

At once, they pulled, and Buck felt his body being lifted through the mud. He could feel the way all of the mud shifted, gliding past his legs and filling the space he left vacated and threatening to pull him back under. But the water did its job and so did his team.

Buck was collapsing into Eddie’s arms and panting with exertion before he even realized his whole body had left that pit of death. All of the fight left his body, and there was little Buck could do but press his face into Eddie’s coat.

Orders flew out of Bobby’s mouth around him, and Buck flopped to the side, letting hands feel around his body for injury. They removed the suspenders, too, and Buck felt the heavy turnout pants and boots slide off, relieving him of the weight.

Buck knew he didn’t have any crushed ribs or open wounds, but he was too tired to tell them and decided he could let them figure it out.

The problem came when he felt them lifting him, hands gripping his arms and underarms. He could only manage a whimper in protest before his legs crumpled beneath him, unable to support his weight. The hands held steady, but they lowered him again once they realized they couldn’t move him like that.

He was still mostly upright as they leaned him against the trunk of the fallen tree, and he took comfort in the solid surface.

“Buck,” Eddie called, and it didn’t sound like the first time he’d said his name. “Buck are you with us?”

He nodded, and Eddie blew out a puff of air in relief. In the background, he heard Bobby saying something to Hen and Sanchez, but he couldn’t follow the conversation. 

“You’re scaring us,” Eddie said, bringing a hand to his cheek. Eddie had removed his gloves, so the touch was soft. It was cold, too, but Buck felt grounded by the gesture. “You want to open your eyes for us?”

 _Oh_. He hadn’t realized they were closed. 

Buck opened his eyes and was greeted by one of Eddie’s rarer bright smiles. Even in the dark, he was shining bright.

“H-hi,” he whispered.

“Hi yourself,” Eddie said then leaned down and pressed his lips to Buck’s. Unlike his hands, Eddie’s lips were warm and goosebumps raised across Buck’s skin. 

Buck tried to lift his own hand to Eddie’s face, but his arms were damn noodles and the best he could manage was clutching the open flap of his boyfriend’s turnout coat.

Eddie only kissed him for a moment longer before he pulled away. Hen and Sanchez were right behind him. Buck threw them a weak smile and a thumbs up before his leg tensed again and he was arching off of the trunk in pain.

“Here,” Eddie said as he removed his coat. He placed it over Buck’s chest and tucked sleeves around his back. “Can you walk?”

Buck shook his head. “Don’t think so,” he muttered. 

“Can you feel your legs?” Hen asked. “Wiggle your toes for me.”

Buck swayed his feet left and right, but he still shook his head. “Hurts,” he offered.

“That’d be the pressure and cramping,” Bobby said. “Let’s get him onto the backboard! Do we have any ambulances left?”

“Negative,” Hen shook her head. “You’re going to need to call for an air evac.”

Buck laughed at that. “First water, then earth, and now you want me to go against air? What’s next, fire?”

Chim clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s every other day of the week, Buckaroo.”

Buck hummed. “You coming with?” he asked Eddie. 

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Time passed by a lot faster after that. Buck wasn’t sure who, but he knew that someone had put out the burning tree. It hadn’t posed much threat, but they could never take chances. 

Buck had been carried out to the front of the house on the backboard, and one glance around the neighborhood had shown that the evacuation was necessary. Another section of the muddy hills had come down and torn through some houses. Mud spilled into the streets, and one ladder truck was abandoned, half-buried in it.

“Holy crap,” he whispered. It was no wonder that his team had taken a hot minute to respond to Buck’s situation. “Is everyone—”

Bobby nodded from Buck’s side. “Everyone in our house is fine. One guy from the 220 got a sprained ankle when he got caught at the end of some flow, but that’s it.”

“Good,” Buck muttered. “Good.”

The next time Buck came to full awareness, he was already tucked into a hospital bed with heated blankets and an IV in his hand. Eddie was fast asleep at his side in what looked like the most uncomfortable position ever, but Buck didn’t have the heart to wake him.

Sleeping didn’t seem like such a bad idea, so Buck closed his eyes and drifted off again.

* * *

Being discharged from the hospital was a blur. Buck’s body temperature had gone back to normal, and he was properly hydrated, but the air still felt too cold for him. It was nearly three in the morning when he was finally discharged, and Chim came with clothes for Buck and the battalion truck to pick them up.

Chim asked a few questions to Eddie, of course, but Buck dozed in and out of sleep in the backseat, content to just listen where he could.

Arriving at the station was a blur too, and Eddie supported him as he made his way into the station. Buck felt like the Michelin Man all bundled up in a spare blanket that Chim gave him from the bunks, but he didn’t care. The familiar scent of the station’s detergent lingered on the material and made him feel warm and comforted. 

He sat on one of the benches in the locker room as Eddie collected their belongings, and a few different members peeked in to wish the two a good night. Bobby was the last to show up with two of the station’s ceramic mugs filled with chili. 

“I figured you two could use a small bite before you left,” Bobby said in lieu of a greeting. “You guys going to get home alright?”

“Yeah,” Eddie said around a spoonful of food. “I drove us to work, so I’m gonna take Buck home with me for now.”

Bobby glanced between the two. “And the doctor’s orders?” he asked. 

“I’ll see you bright and early on Sunday,” Buck spoke for himself. “As long as the soreness doesn’t stick around too long, the doctor said there shouldn’t be any concerns.”

Bobby smiled, happy with the news. “Sounds good. You guys take care. And Buck, you stay dry.”

“Trust me, I’m trying,” Buck laughed. He spooned some more food into his mouth, and just like that, the alarm was going off. Buck watched as everyone flooded to their turnout gear and readied for the call. 

Bobby faltered in his step just long enough for Buck to throw out a, “You too!” before Bobby dashed out of the locker room.

Buck and Eddie watched the trucks leave, and once the last one was gone, Eddie nudged Buck with his foot. 

“You ready to get out of here?”

“Time for Friday?” Buck asked.

“Time for Friday,” Eddie confirmed.

**Author's Note:**

> ☼ Okay, so just a side note that I am already aware that this may not be _exactly_ how quicksand works, but different densities and weather can be a huge influence. I read a lot of articles and watched a lot of videos and did my best to tell the story as mostly accurate _and_ dramatic as possible. If you have a problem with my portrayal of quicksand, please remember it’s fan fiction and I did take creative liberties so leave criticism outta here :)
> 
> ☼ Please leave kudos/comments as they encourage me to write more! If you feel I missed necessary story tags please let me know what I should add. If a tag feels inaccurate, please let me know about that as well. 
> 
> ☼ If you actually read these notes, please use this (⛈) emoji in your comment! Even if you don’t have a comment in mind, think of it as some extra kudos that I will appreciate and love! 🥰


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